She reaches into the back seat for the bag she brought and pulls out my T-shirt, but I know it won’t make a difference. It’s what’s underneath that’s the problem.
She sucks in a gust of air when she sees my bare shoulder.
“What happened?”
The damage is not as bad as it looks. Three deep scratches lance the skin, but the blood is already dried. “Your cat doesn’t like men,” I joke, using the ripped shirt to wipe away theburgundy spots. I meant it as a funny statement. She looks anything but amused.
“Is there a first-aid kit in here somewhere?” She bends in half to look under her seat.
“The glovebox.”
The compartment falls open when she tugs on the handle. A little white box with a red cross is what she opens, shuffling through the contents and tearing at the packaging of an antiseptic wipe.
“When was your last tetanus shot?”
I hiss when the alcohol-soaked pad comes in contact with my torn flesh.
“They made me update everything before I went on tour.” I’m not worried about it.
“I really am sorry,” she says, squirting a line of Neosporin over the wounds and covering them with an extra-large Band-Aid.
“Really, it’s nothing.” I pull the new shirt over my head so she’ll stop worrying.
“Okay.”
It sounds like she doesn’t believe me. The mood in the car is tense for a lot of reasons now. I don’t know if she wants to continue talking about everything that transpired in the last ten minutes, or if she’d rather pretend it didn’t happen at all. I can’t even dissect it in my own head because I’m still reeling. Wishing it hadn’t happened so fast. Wondering how she would have tasted if I kissed her back. Disappointed that I might never have the chance again.
While she stows away the emergency kit, I pull onto the road. I hadn’t made plans to take her anywhere after this, so I guess we’re driving back to Julia’s.
I’ve never seen Summer this quiet. I don’t know what tothink or say ordo. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable now. She’s been so good for Quinn, and I can’t screw that up.
I park the car and kill the engine in the same spot we were thirty minutes ago. Everything feels different though. For a moment I’m afraid she’ll take her cat and I’ll never see her again after this.
“Thank you,” she says instead. “Getting Millie back was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“I don’t know that I did much more than get in her way.”
She giggles when she finally looks up. “I’m sorry again about…”
“Summer, it was nothing. Really. I’m glad you’re Quinn’s nanny. She really likes you.”
It wasn’tnothing, but her commitment to my daughter feels like the only thing I should be salvaging right now.
I try to read her face. It’s impossible with her usual smile plastered across it. “Of course! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
I reach into the back seat, dumping my pants out of her bag and handing it to her. She takes it. With her cat cradled in one arm and the empty canvas tote in the other, she struggles with the door handle. I reach across her lap, our arms brushing, and push it open.
Anotherthanksis the last thing she says before she leaves my car for good.
15
SUMMER
“Okay, replay the situation again so I can be sure I heard you correctly. Youkissedhim?” Julia flits around the kitchen, filling a to-go thermos with coffee and stuffing what looks like a stack of handwritten exam notes into her bag. She’s much more alive at six on a Monday morning than I’ll ever be. I prefer the barstool I’m perched on as I slip Henry’s lunchbox in his backpack.
“HerescuedMillie, Julia. Of course I kissed him. I would have kissedyouif you had done that for me.”
As if she heard me, Millie’s paw drags down the sliding glass door next to me.
